


Paint it pink

by UrsaeMinoris



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alien Planet, Canon Compliant, Conversations, Developing Friendships, Female Friendship, Games, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Implied/Referenced Character Death, altean culture, set up in the begining of s7
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-16
Updated: 2019-04-16
Packaged: 2020-01-15 05:28:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18492316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UrsaeMinoris/pseuds/UrsaeMinoris
Summary: During a stop in their voyage to Earth, Romelle and Allura have a discussion about the color pink.---There was a short silence while Allura was processing this. "You know, if something is bothering you, you can ask me.""Then... I was wondering... Why don't you match your lions?""I'm sorry?" replied Allura, surprised.





	Paint it pink

**Author's Note:**

> This is a headcanon I’ve had for a long time, and discussing it on twitter made me want to write a little something about it. It was also nice to write Allura and Romelle interacting.
> 
> A big thank you to [Mishka](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Myshka/pseuds/Myshka) for beta-reading! I learned a lot thanks to your feedback.
> 
> As always, comments and kudos are very welcome! You can also find me on twitter at [https://twitter.com/UrsaeMinoris2](https://twitter.com/UrsaeMinoris2/)  
> This fic on twitter : https://twitter.com/UrsaeMinoris2/status/1118469863830446080  
> This fic on tumblr : https://ursae-minoris-world.tumblr.com/post/184247076043/paint-it-pink

Romelle yawned and stretched, a little bored. She didn't understand th e Earth game the paladins were playing. 

They were making a  short stop in their voyage, on a planet with suitable atmosphere and gravity. They had eaten lunch around a camp fire. After that, Lance had suggested a game. Now, he, Hunk and Pidge all had sticky notes on their foreheads with names on them, and somehow they had to ask questions about those people Romelle had never heard of.

"Am I a scientist?" asked Pidge.

"Yes!" Lance and Hunk exclaimed.

"Sooo…" recapitulated Pidge, "I'm human, I’m not fictional, I’m dead, I'm a scientist. Given the game, I'm probably well known... hmm. Maybe that's what my next question should be."

"Hey, hey!  W ait for your turn!" protested Hunk.

"It's not fun with you, Pidge," complained Lance, "You always ask the right questions! I still know nothing about who I am supposed to be." On his forehead, the note said "Iverson", if Romelle recalled correctly -she was still unfamiliar with their alphabet, so Hunk had whispered the names to her at the beginning of the game. She didn't know who th is Iverson was either.

"I have a system!" retorted the green paladin, proudly.

Romelle tried her best to join the conversation. "In what field did Margaret Hamilton work? I've never heard of her."

This caused a burst of protests, to Romelle's dismay. 

"Nooo, Romelle, you ruined the game!" claimed Lance, while Pidge was taking her sticky note off and giving it a disgruntled look.

"I... I'm sorry," stammered Romelle, taken aback.

Hunk, who was sitting next to her, patted her knee. "Yeah, yeah, ok, we need to start over, but let's not yell at Romelle, right? She didn't do it on purpose." He smiled at her. "Are you sure you don't want to play? I can explain the rules again."

But Romelle wasn't in the mood anymore. It felt  like there was too much of a gap, and it would be too complicated to find names that she and the paladins would all know, aside from getting into people they knew involved in the war, and the whole point was to distract themselves from that. She got up. "No, thanks. I'm going to see if I can find Allura." The princess had disappeared just after dinner, and there had been a tacit agreement to leave her the space she needed. 

"Oh, ok then." Hunk sounded a bit disappointed.

"Hey, maybe you can bring her a cup of... whatever that is," suggested Lance, gesturing at his own cup.

"Na 'ha infusion," corrected Hunk. "That's a good idea. Here!" He filled a cup with the beverage from the kettle he was keeping warm in the ashes, and handed it to her. She took it, as well as her own, half full cup, and started looking for Allura.

_____

She noticed Krolia and Coran in deep discussion in front of holographic maps, obviously planning the next course of their journey. Keith, Shiro and Kosmo were nowhere in sight, which wasn't surprising. They had a tendency to slip away like that. She finally spotted Allura, a bit further away. She was sitting on the edge of a cliff, looking out at the sea, her white hair flowing in the wind. Romelle walked up to her.

"Allura? Can I join you?"

The princess looked up and smiled. "Of course."

Romelle held out the cup for her. "Lance wanted me to give you this."

Allura's eyebrows went up. "Really? That is... very kind of him." She received the cup, took a sip from it, and sighed, her gaze returning to the ocean.

Romelle sat next to her, trying not to spill her own drink. There was some sort of gooey bright orange moss-like plant on the black boulders that Romelle did her best to avoid sitting in. "I don't get their Earthly game," Romelle confided, "What is so funny about it?"

Allura smiled again, turning slightly her head to watch her out of the corner of her eyes. "I don't get it, either," she admitted. "But Hunk explained charades to me once, and it was quite amusing. Perhaps we should play that, next time."

Romelle shrugged. "Perhaps."

They watched the sea in silence for a moment. Most of the planet was just barren. In the area where they were, it was all black volcanic rocks,  b ut, according to Pidge's scan, the sea was brimming with life, and the photosynthesis of the algae was what had made the atmosphere of the planet breathable for them. You wouldn't guess there was so much life down there, watching the surface of the water reflecting the sun, only troubled by the ripples of small waves.

Finally, Allura turned to Romelle again. "How are you adjusting? This must be hard for you."

Romelle sighed, trying to put words on feelings that were confusing even for her. "I don't know, things are moving...fast. Sometimes it's difficult to follow. Before I met Keith and Krolia, I felt stuck, and alone. No one believed me. Now, it's better, I think. I feel like we're moving in the right direction. Even if I don't understand everything."

There was a short silence while Allura was processing this. "You know, if something is bothering you, you can ask me."

"Then... I was wondering... Why don't you match your lions?"

"I'm sorry?" replied Allura, surprised.

"Well, you're wearing pink armor, but you're piloting the Blue Lion. Lance is the one wearing blue armor, but he pilots the Red lion. And Keith is in red, but he pilots the Black Lion! Then, Shiro is the one wearing black armor, and he's supposed to pilot the Black Lion too, right? While Pidge and Hunk do have armor that match their lions. I don't get it! Wouldn't it be much more simple if everyone was color coordinated?"

Allura chuckled. "I understand that it can seem confusing. This is because we had to switch lions after Shiro...  went missing. He disappeared after a major battle against Zarkon's forces. We looked for him, but…" Allura took a deep breath. These were dark times. "We had to find a way to form Voltron again. In order to do that, we needed a new pilot for the Black Lion. And Black accepted Keith. Red called on to Lance, and Blue opened up to me."

Romelle was leaning toward Allura and listening intently ; she gave a brisk nod to show she was following.

"Later we found Shiro again. Or so we thought. You... know the rest."

Romelle nodded again, but seemed still troubled. She sat back, twitching her hands in her lap. "But there wasn't a Pink Lion, was there? Why are you wearing pink?"

Allura couldn't help a sharp intake of breath; somehow, she hadn't seen this coming.

Before she could answer, Romelle looked at her again, intensely. "I... I don't know how it was back on Altea, but at the Colony... pink has a special meaning." Her voice broke. Her gaze fell on her own clothes, and she clutched at her pink tunic

"It is what we wear, to honor the ones we lost," confirmed Allura, failing to keep her voice from trembling.

Romelle peered at Allura again, and there were tears in her eyes now. " It is."

Allura cleared her throat, trying her best to overcome her emotions. She wasn't ready to cry in front of Romelle yet. "I wear pink to honor my father and the Paladins of old. And... everyone that died with Altea." Allura had to take a deep breath, still struggling to keep her composition. "At the time, Shiro was missing too." Another deep breath. "At least, we got him back." She managed a strained smile at Romelle, who had taken her hands in hers.

"I'm so sorry for your loss, Princess," whispered the blond Altean. 

Allura nodded, words failing her, and they sat a while like that.

Romelle sighed, letting go of Allura's hands and smoothing out the folds from her tunic. "I wear pink in honor of my brother, and now also in honor of those who were lost at the Second Colony."

"I thought so," admitted Allura.

"I used to wear pink, even before that, when close ones left for the Second Colony. People didn't like it. Accused me of being bad luck. Others just mocked me." She sighed again. "I was never really good at fitting in anyway. I did have friends, growing up, but when I started sharing my doubts about the Second Colony, many people kept their distance from me."

Allura patted her shoulder, slightly awkwardly. "I think you're fitting in quite well with the team."

"I just ruined their game..."

Allura tried a reassuring smile. "I'm sure they will forgive you. I apologize if they were rude."

Romelle put up her hands in protest. "Oh, no, no! No, it's fine. They offered to explain the rules again, I just... wasn't in the mood." She looked down at the weird moss on the rocks between them. "I do feel welcome," she said softly. "Keith and Krolia were so kind to me. They believed me and helped me and stayed by my side. The team is... sometimes hard to get, but they're all nice with me. And I'm so happy I could meet you and Coran."

She absentmindedly poked at the moss... and immediately withdrew her hand in disgust. "Ewww, what is this thing?"

It was covered in some smelly mucus that was sticking to her fingers. She wiped them against the rocks, and then against her pants, living greasy trails on the fabric.

"Are you all right?" asked Allura, concerned by Romelle's frantic reaction.

"It... itches!" complained Romelle, waggling her hand  in distress . The skin of her fingers was red and swollen.

"Come, let’s have Coran take a look!" said Allura, getting up and helping her friend up too. "And, Romelle? I'm glad I got to meet you too."

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed reading this!  
> So, who else thought of what Allura had said about the color pink when Romelle was introduced?
> 
> Share your thoughts with me here, on twitter at [https://twitter.com/UrsaeMinoris2](https://twitter.com/UrsaeMinoris2/) or on tumblr at https://ursae-minoris-world.tumblr.com/!  
> This fic on twitter : https://twitter.com/UrsaeMinoris2/status/1118469863830446080  
> This fic on tumblr : https://ursae-minoris-world.tumblr.com/post/184247076043/paint-it-pink


End file.
